SP05 is out now!

With the ever-evolving maturity of SAP Solution Manager 7.2, the latest support package stack, SP05, brings new and enhanced features across a broad spectrum of the Solution Manager functional scope.  SP05 was released on 9th May 2017, and is available right now to implement for your SAP Solution Manager system.

This article takes a look at the key enhancements that have been made available with the new support package.

Process Management

• Support for Process Templates. If you’re about to embark upon a multi-region roll-out (covering different regions/plants/markets), but have processes based on a global template, then the new ‘Deployment’ functionality will be of interest. Missing from the initial Support Packs of 7.2, ‘Deployments’ are the successor for the SAP Solution Manager 7.1 template / global rollout functionality. A deployment enables a master Process library to be defined which is then rolled-out, mapped against the appropriate system landscape.

• New Diagram Types. The new graphical editor of SAP Solution Manager 7.2 is by far (in our opinion) the most impressive new feature available in 7.2. In SP05 this has been enhanced further with general usability improvements and also a new diagram type: ‘Universal Diagram’. This new type allows different sorts of diagrams to be created, such as Value Chain Diagrams, Capability Maps, Application Landscapes and pretty much anything else you can think of. Contrary to BPMN diagrams, Universal Diagrams don’t follow sematic rules, basically they provide a canvass to draw any diagram you require.

• Process Variants. When processes share the same fundamental building blocks, but have slightly different configuration and execution you need to be able to represent the different variations with the minimum of rework. For simple variations we have been able to use a decision point, to show that particular activities are only executed certain circumstances. When there are multiple paths through a process they can quickly become complicated, and this is where Process Variants play a part. In SP05 we can simply create a named Process Variant for the main process, with its own diagram (derived from the parent process). This makes it much easier to keep process variant documentation together, but segregated from the core process.

Test Suite

• Better transparency of Tester workload through the new ‘Review Worklist’ report. A common complaint of the Test Management functionality in the past was that it wasn’t easy to gain visibility of another Testers worklist. In SP05 we now have a new ‘Review Worklist’ application that allows the Test Coordinator to access a specified Testers worklist, and, if necessary, change the test execution data.

• Support for Testing Teams. Improving the flexibility of Test assignment, through the use of multiple testers in the form of Testing Teams. We can now assign a group of business partners to a package, allowing everyone within that group to have visibility of the tests.

Change Management

• The most significant enhancement to Change Management in SP05 is the introduction of the ‘Standard Change’ change type, extending the portfolio of existing change types to provide increased flexibility around delivering changes that don’t typically require approval.  As these changes don’t require approval, the speed of implementation is accelerated.  Control is imposed by defining a whitelist of objects that can be changed via the standard change type, restricting the scope of standard changes to a known and pre-approved object list.
• Downgrade protection is now available for non-ABAP changes.  The scope is limited to imminent downgrades and predecessor checks, but this is a welcome extension of the protection offered by DGP into the scope of non-ABAP changes.

A Whole Host of Innovation

These are just some of the key enhancements that we know customers have been craving since adopting SAP Solution Manager 7.2.  Expand the sections below for a round-up of other interesting features per ALM topic: